The Stoics came to me in my work! In my client work as an executive advisor primarily for financial services, I was working with a CEO Judy, who was feeling increasingly stressed in her role and inter-personal relationships. Many of my clients have asked if I researched Stoicism as part of writing The Source.I reviewed all the ancient philosophies and drew out what resonated with the message of the book with much overlap from Stoicism.ĭo you bring it up in your work with your clients? I recalled it during my time as a medical doctor when I witnessed massive amounts of human suffering (both mental and physical) and had to find strategies to make meaning of this in my life, and my work with patients and their families. I learnt about Stoicism at high school and although it is a Hellenistic philosophy there are threads of stoicism in many other philosophies including the ancient eastern philosophies that are my cultural heritage, so it always felt innate. What was your first encounter with Stoicism and why did the philosophy resonate? Swart tells more about her interest in Stoicism, her new book, and shares several techniques anyone can start practicing today to build mental resilience and improve their ability to manage stress, regulate emotions and retain information. Swart is also a longtime fan and student of Stoicism, even applying it to her work with clients and her new book The Source! In our interview below, Dr. The only top-tier leadership coach with both a PhD in neuroscience and a former medical career as a psychiatrist, Dr. Swart is a neuroscientist who works with leaders all over the world to help them achieve mental resilience and peak brain performance. Which is why we were thrilled to have the opportunity to interview Dr Tara Swart. Learning to control our perceptions, building our mental toughness and resilience, however, is not always easy. We may be impeded or disrupted, but the mind always retains the power to redirect the path. “Indeed, no one can thwart the purposes of your mind,” Marcus Aurelius wrote, “for they can’t be touched by fire, steel, tyranny, slander, or anything.” By controlling our perceptions, the Stoics tell us, we can find mental clarity. The first, and perhaps most important, lesson of Stoicism is that we don’t control the world around us, but we do control how we see and perceive the world around us.